David Beckham's season came to a painful end in England's victory over South Africa as he left Durban with a broken bone in his right hand.

The friendly was due to be Beckham's final game of the season in any case as he is suspended for the Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia in June.

However, he wanted to go out on a high note as he captained the side in Durban after describing his meeting with Nelson Mandela the previous day as "one of the greatest moments of my career".

Instead, he was forced out of the game early in the second half, holding his strapped-up right hand in some pain following a hefty challenge by Thabang Molefe. Beckham, who at least now has more than two months before the start of next season, underwent a precautionary X-ray and was said to have broken the scaphoid bone between his thumb and wrist.

He flew to Spain with the rest of the squad ahead of their break in La Manga last night but will now travel on to Manchester, where he will be assessed further by his club's medical team.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson revealed: "It is bad luck for him in what was his last game of the season, but David will still travel back with us.

"Our doctor and the Manchester United doctor are going to speak to each other and see how long it will be before he is fit again. In fact, I'm sure they have probably already spoken to each other.

"I'm sorry for him. I hope he will recover as quickly as possible and can have a normal life over the summer."

Beckham's injury appeared to have been accidental, although there were some physical challenges in a game settled by Emile Heskey's second-half winner.

Newcastle midfielder Jermaine Jenas replaced Beckham after 51 minutes, while Middlesbrough defender Gareth Southgate opened the scoring with a header after just 36 seconds. "You talk about `friendlies' these days, but you have to be proud that when England come, all the other nations want to beat us. That's an honour for us," said Eriksson.

"We have to be prepared for it and we were prepared, although maybe we weren't against Australia in February, when the players had other duties coming up the next weekend."

Eriksson insisted that his six other substitutions - with Matthew Upson making his debut - were not enforced, although Heskey did go off with blisters just moments after his close-range strike.

In the absence of Wayne Rooney, the Liverpool striker had nevertheless given the required response to the teenager's impact against Turkey last month. "Emile Heskey played very well and I'm very happy for him," added Eriksson.